This was my first homily at Pokrova Parish in Allentown, PA.
Warm-up: on the Cross. Don’t be ashamed of the Cross! Don’t be ashamed of following the Christ who died on the Cross! Don’t be afraid to follow him in persecution and even death.
Today’s Epistle reading is so powerful:
“We are not justified by following the law, but by giving our lives to Jesus Christ.”
- Law (doing the right things) is important, but it does not save us
It trains our minds and instincts how to love God and neighbor; it provides a guide as to what kind of behavior is holy and productive; and what kind of behavior is defiling and disruptive. - This is something we should take seriously, but it isn’t nearly enough! It cannot make us holy and it cannot make us worthy of being true sons and daughters of God, capable of inheriting the Kingdom of God and all its blessings.
St. Paul goes on to say (and I am paraphrasing); “Through the law, I learned that I did not need the law so much as I needed to live in God through Christ.”
Not only is the law not enough to save us from our pride and corruption, it can even be counter-productive!
- [For example] If I think that I can become worthy of the Kingdom by acting correctly, my pride – that is to say the way my mind is wired – [my pride] will lead me to believe and know that I am already good enough! Both the Wisdom of the Church and secular psychology teach that almost every one of us is inclined to see themselves and their actions through “rose-colored glasses”, explaining away the times they “miss the mark” and exaggerating their successes.
- Worse yet, as St. Paul’s early life as “Saul the Pharisee” demonstrates, focusing on the Law as a means of obtaining righteousness can turn us into hypocritical and self-righteous stone-throwers; in this way, we can so rigid and quick to scold that we don’t just keep ourselves from the Kingdom, but drive others away and draw a demonic fellowship around us. As Christ puts it (again I am paraphrasing); “When we become self-righteous, hypocritical, and judgmental about the law and being good, those we actually draw to worship with us will become twice the servants of hell than ourselves.” (St. Matthew 23:15)
- It is worth noting that Christ God had a lot of patience for prostitutes and extortionists – for them he taught that mercy was way to guide them towards the Kingdom; but he had no patience for Pharisees!
- Glory to God, St. Paul saw true holiness and in that light recognized the grievous error of his ways. He realized that neither he nor anyone else could fulfill the law so well that they could become truly holy and perfect; thus he “died to the Law” and gave his life to Christ-God.
- We need to be that kind of example of mercy and holiness to others – through deeds far more than words! – so that everyone around us are drawn to a true life of love and godliness through Holy Orthodoxy (St. Matthew 5:16).
We are all called to be perfect – this should be the goal of every human (e.g. to be a perfect husband, a perfect wife, a perfect parent, a perfect friend, and over all, a perfect minister and servant) – but we know that, despite our efforts to “do the right thing”, we keep messing up. As evidence, the world (and our own lives) is (are) full of broken marriages, estranged families, schisms in churches and loneliness; not to mention the more obvious examples of violence and war.
Yes, we are called to be perfect; we want to be perfect… but we fail. We are called to be children of God, but we always end up as the prodigal. We have all these rules, but even when they get us to act better on occasion, they can’t ever really heal our hearts and perfect our minds. As Orthodox, we have a lot of rules and they are all useful, but the problem isn’t making the rules better and problem isn’t about putting the right amount effort into following them. But they can only point us towards God and His Holiness; they cannot get us to Him.
The glory of the Gospel is that, while we are not capable of being perfect, God has done more than just show us what perfection looks like – he gave His only begotten son – Jesus Christ – so that through Him we might become perfect; so that through Him we might be transformed into the kind of humans that know how to love and so that we begin to do it automatically and without reservation.
So yes, learn what holy behavior looks like and do it – this makes the world a better place to live in, but more importantly, give your life to Christ and experience the joy of the kind of love that never ends.
